Splinter Cell Cracked Up
by SpeckledEagle
Summary: Three years since the Third Echelon scandal, the effects are still felt. Many Splinter Cells have lost their clearance. However, another conspiracy has shown up. With the Splinter Cells in ruins, only one man can stop it. He is Sam Fisher, Splinter Cell
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1 Infiltration

It was a pitch black night in the suburbs of Chicago. Business men drove home to greet their loved ones, and gangsters came out of hiding. The streets were a very dangerous place, for anyone, rich or not, except for one. His name was Ben Hansen, and he was a Splinter Cell, a warrior of the darkness.

Hansen, however, was not with Third Echelon, the Splinter Cell's agency, for the first time. Field Agent Sam Fisher had assigned him this, but Director Grímsdóttir had not supported the idea, due to the high risk of street criminals gaining state of the art technology. So, Hansen and Fisher had only managed to get a small cache off of the dunes of Lake Michigan. All that it contained was an older SC Pistol with four magazines and thermal goggles. This was going to be a change for Hansen, with no OPSAT, only a fellow agent for contact, and no SC3000 rifle.

So, as Hansen was sitting in Fisher's car, he truly understand the point of it. Street criminals were getting drugs into the border, but were dispersing it into the public, trying to get the entire city addicted to the drug. Large Supply, with a large demand, was pure business. And pure business meant better arms. The murder rate of Chicago had gone soaring, and Fisher feared foreign mercenaries were also in play.

Hansen was going to have to infiltrate a neighborhood full of gangsters. There was a bigger house in the center of it all, where a gang leader was currently sleeping. If Fisher was correct there were computers and files of the overall plan. A quick interrogation of the man, some records of what was going on, and it would be a clean and safe operation.

The entire community was fenced in by giant white blocks on all sides, with an entrance on one side. Hansen was not black, nor could he pass for a cop killer, so he and Sam had decided to go over the wall to the west of the gang leader's house, whom they had nick named Big Cheese. Fisher hadn't spotted any complex security systems, but Cheese's house was well guarded. For each cardinal direction, there was two guards. One with a Dragonauv sniper rifle and another with, you guessed it, AK-47.

"So, one more time for me Sam. Why are we doing this?"

"A big puddle of blood just for a fine powder needs mopped up." Fisher had replied.

With that, Ben Hansen got out of the car, made sure his equipment was in check, and slammed the door. Fisher drove off seconds after Hansen made his way into the foliage that surrounded the secluded neighborhood. After maybe twenty seconds of sprinting, Hansen stopped and got ready to go up over the wall.

Hansen was at west side of the wall and was listening for any signs of life beyond it. After fifteen seconds of near silence, he was satisfied. He flipped down the older thermal goggles and saw that each block was equally as warm as the other, no alarm. He withdrew his knife and jumped, and stabbed it into a crack between two blocks, lifted himself up some more and slung himself over on his back. Hansen removed the knife and scanned the area below. The young Splinter Cell was in the empty backyard of a small house. Hansen slid down to the grass, holstered his knife and closed his eyes. Remembering the map, he needed to round the houses, get across a road, and kill two guards.

With a miniature blue tooth headset, Fisher called Hansen.

"Listen, I've been doing some prying with my limited skills on a laptop. This particular gang has been bribing the police department, and even buying arms. If you see police act as needed."

Hansen told Fisher he understood and would do so, as he rounded the block and came to a street, and he dug himself into a bush. The sidewalk was full of gangsters, some selling drugs, others trading and looking at firearms. Hansen, being the white man he was, would not blend in easily. The streets were full of this, and there was absolutely no way past it. He was dressed in a green sweat shirt and blue jeans, and he slid on a loose fitting Cubs baseball cap to hide his goggles. He got up, loosened the pistol from the holster and walked across the street, thankfully not drawing any stares.

As he got to the other sidewalk, a black man, with two goons behind him approached Hanson and said,

"Hey, white man, give me your money."

His breath making a reply hard to mumble,

"Get the hell out of my way, just visiting a friend."

"You see these two guys? They got M9 pistols, the ones from the video games! I can get someone with an AK here, now give me some damn money!" The gangster screamed, and was drawing a knife.

Hansen instinctively smacked the knife to the ground, kicked the man in the knee, spun him around and drew his pistol and aimed it at the two men. Finally, he threw the man at the two gangsters, and all three tumbled to the floor.

"Piss off, you dipshit." Hansen told them, as he snatched up the two firearms and put them in his drawstring sack.

Hansen now had full attention, but no one was attacking him. In fact, people smiled when they saw him walk by. While the average person wold like this, Ben Hansen did not. The thing was people know his location and he was not incognito. He was going to have to disappear, and Sam Fisher would help.

"Sam, I had to rough up some low life pieces of shit. Have anything for a diversion?" Ben asked.

"I do. Police sirens from a nearby department. Make a run." Fisher replied, and got to work.

Ben, when he got to a dark side of the neighborhood, went into the bushes and the deafening sirens went to work. People started running, others were sitting up positions if a fire fight started, and no one was paying attention to Hansen. The hat was slid off, and he sprinted down the sidewalk, got into a backyard and finally got a glance at the gangster's house. It wasn't great, just a blue two story house with a built in garage and a long drive way. However, like Fisher had stated, the two guards were there. One was very close, the AK-47 and the other was leaning on the house, rifles ready to fire.

"Hey, these guards aren't moving. Should I engage?" Hansen asked Sam, and readied his pistol for a quick double kill.

"Tough call," Sam thought out loud, wishing for his SC3000 and his ASE. "If you have to, do so." Sam gave his permission to fire at will.

Hansen, still wanting this to be as non-lethal as possible, dug into the dirt and slid over in close proximity of the riflemen. Next he drew his pistol and shoved this guy to the ground, raised his pistol and gave the sniper a clean shot in between the eyeballs. Next, Hansen punched the gun into the rifleman's forehead and demanded, "Where is your leader?"

"Fuck you." Was his response, and one Hansen was not a stranger to.

"One more chance, then we have to get dirty, and we both won't enjoy it."

"Go to hell shit brains." And again, Hansen was not a stranger to this as well.

Ben took the knife, and jabbed it into the gangster's shoulder.

"Talk."

"Fuck no."

Hansen drove the blade deeper and started twisting back and forth.

"Okay! His upstairs. Climb the staircase and to the right he'll be in bed. He might have a ho with him." The man said, and Hansen paused.

"Tell me about her, innocent or gangster?"

"How do I know? If shes like the rest we use her for executions and for persuasions."

With that information, Hansen knocked him out, and hid the bodies in a decorative shrub. After doing so, he went to the nearby window and pressed his face against it. It lead to the single car garage and there was a SUV in there, a small refrigerator and a work bench. Ben opened up the unlocked windows, and slid in.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2 The House

The temperature was very frigid, which shocked Hansen. However, he still had to keep on going, so he closed the window and got onto his belly, and crawled under the SUV. A cell phone was removed from the sack and Hansen stuck it in between two pipes. Now, Sam and Ben could track the locations from Third Echelon and do further missions here if needed. As he got out, he crossed the ten foot walk to the door and took out his lock pick. This one was tricky at first, but in just a few seconds opened as though a key had been used.

"Okay, now Sam, please tell me there's no guards here." Hansen asked, and slowly opened the door.

"All it seems to be is guards on the outside, and nothing inside. Just check your corners, and you'll be golden." Fisher said, driving around the perimeter and ready to pick up Ben.

Ben opened the door all the way, and it was dark. He saw a room with a small fireplace on the right, a couch on the left and a T.V. further back. There was also a staircase right by the sofa and a doorway, that was open, the lead to the kitchen. No one seemed to be here, so he crossed the carpeted floor and crab walked up the stairs causing very little sound.

He came to two doors, one was wide open and lead to a full bathroom. Like the kitchen, no one was there, so he put his ear to the other door and heard someone tossing and turning. Hansen slowly opened the door and peeked inside. The man and his prostitute were laying naked on the bed, all with white sheets. He jumped on the naked pair, knocked out the hooker and grabbed the screaming gang leader by the throat. He tossed him off of the bed, and then jumped onto him.

"Damn it. Tell Vlad I'll buy him the best vodka of his life if you let me live!" The target screamed at Hansen and was slapped.

"No. I what I want is information. The drugs you've been getting have found their way into water supplies and into the air. What are you doing with the money?" Hansen asked.

"Aw, come on man! It's money! All the cocaine, slutty women and beer you can dream of!" He yelled.

"No it isn't. I know you've been getting local weapons from S.W.A.T. and hiring foreign mercenaries. Why?" Hansen demanded.

"I see, I see. The local gangs have been getting tougher and we need Vlad's men to take them out." The gangster claimed and was still jerking.

Hansen shoved the gangster to the ground, and called Fisher.

"Hey, this guy isn't talking. Something about Vlad, which I assume is a Russian mercenary contractor. Want me to take him in?" Ben asked Sam.

"Get some more information and kill him." Sam stated, as he continued to drive, and finally confirmed his suspicion. There was a tail.

Hansen picked up the gangster and said, "Where is Vlad?"

The gangster gave him the location and Hansen punched him in the throat, and he fell down to the ground. Hansen shot him in the face, and looked at the hooker. She was beautiful, but Hansen knew he couldn't let his feelings get in the way, and this girl probably had AIDs. A round punched in her the head and Hansen reloaded.

Ben had climbed outside of the window, and went back to the side walk from before. He could see the blood from the fight, but noticed no one was out and about. The shady parts were just as bad, but he had no idea what was going on.

"Sam, no one is here. Anything going on?" Ben asked.

"I've a car of gangsters behind me, and I can see them loading machine guns. Hurry up, before this gets dirty." Sam told Ben, as he took a sharp curve and he drove back around, losing the tail.

Hansen ran now and got back to where he had gone over, and did the process of sticking his knife into the wall and using it for support. He swung his legs over, and got into the trees. A thump was made when he fell, so he sprinted and got back to where Sam had dropped him off, and saw the car speeding.

"I'll slow down, open the passenger door and get in as fast as you can. They popped a shot at me." Fisher stated, and Hansen jumped into car.

"So, how did it go?" Fisher asked, as he sped down the road and the tail followed suit.

"I killed the gangster and his prostitute. The guy surely wasn't going to give me any easy information. Surprised he didn't offer to buy the goggles." Hansen said, as he rolled down his window, "If they shoot, I'm popping them."

Hansen looked out at the tail, and they started shooting. Ben's head slammed back into the seat, and he aimed his pistol and shot a Uzi out of someone's hand. Even with one man down, the fire from behind was just overwhelming and Hansen felt a nine millimeter round graze his elbow.

"Brace." Sam told Hansen, and he pushed down on the brake and the car behind him crashed into the trunk.

Hansen ripped off his goggles and opened up the door and stepped outside, readying his pistol. The driver stepped out too, holding a .44 magnum in his hands. "Hey, what the hell? We just wanna talk!" He exclaimed, but Hansen had shot the man before he had finished and killed everyone else in the car almost instantly. He picked up the .44 magnum and spare ammunition and pit into his sack.

As Ben got back into the car, he heard something hit the floor, like a rock but with a bounce to it. Fisher had hollered about a flash grenade, but Hansen felt the full effect. He slumped over the door, but he drew his pistol and rolled out into the street. He tried to stand up but he tumbled, and his vision started to come back. He could see someone with green goggles, but not Sam. His ears were ringing, but he finally stood up and leaned on the car. "Don't move Ben!" A female voice ordered, and Hansen turned. The figure turned out to be a female, who was wearing denim shorts that were cut off a few inches from her knee and a long sleeved tank top. 

"Oh, shit." Hansen heard Fisher exclaimed, as he could hear handcuffs snap.

He walked over the car, but the girl shoved the barrel of a SC3000 and forced him onto his back and cuffed him as well, then kicked him in the side of his chest. As he could hardly breathe, he recognized who it was. Maya Valentina was her name, and with perfect golden skin and blonde hair, she was as beautiful as she was deadly, and this operation had proven it.

"There years and already got Third on me." Sam sarcastically stated as she walked them to the side and into a green jeep.

"Cut it out Fisher. You can run ops, but stealing supplies won't make you liked." Maya countered, and made sure they both were strapped in tight.

"Maya, come on. You, Anna and whoever else knows we're not killing anybody good here." Hansen said, trying to get out of the situation.

"You should have checked in first. That girl you killed was giving the local police information. She was saving lives and risking her own every day. You can only shiver at what would have happened to her." Maya informed them, as she started the jeep and went to the road.

"Tell Anna she should have informed me and that girl could have gotten extracted with Hansen." Fisher said, now wishing he had not told Hansen to kill witnesses, "But hey, I didn't do anything. Ben did the crime." He added.

"Save it Fisher, you're an accomplice. Now Hansen, I can't tell you for sure, but you're status of Splinter Cell is going to get revoked. I expect paper work for you. Sam, your vacation is over for sure. Welcome back to the leagues." Maya said, with a little intensity to make both men upset.

"I'm fifty-three years old and I got some good info. Russian mercenaries and a plot to addict millions of people to an illegal drug. Don't we get any bonus points?" Sam asked.

Valentina was silent at that, and simply sighed and continued driving. Hansen tried to find a way out, but with his hands tied behind him, he couldn't do anything. Sam knew that an escape was fruitless, as he had done this to so many people in his decade of service. He closed his eyes and started to drift off into a sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3 The Long Road Ahead

Sam was forced awake when the jeep ran over a large crack. As he opened his eyes, he saw it had been a few hours, and they were in a rural area, with rows of corn going on and on. There were no other cars, and it was extremely quiet. Fisher knew this wasn't a good situation, and heard a voice into a speaker implanted deep into his right ear.

"Sam, this is, well I can't tell you. I'm with Third Echelon and I believe we have been penetrated." The agent said, "Do not talk, because Valentina does not have my trust. Maya hasn't done anything bad, but we gotta be safe." He added.

Fisher wasn't quite sure what to think of it, but if he could free him and Hansen from Valentina, then maybe he could be useful. But, he noticed Valentina got a message as well.

"Listen, if you're going to do something, do it." Sam whispered as quietly as he could.

"I said don't talk. But Vlad has sent a squad of hit men to take care of you. Look at the little mound on the field to the left." The man told him, and Sam peeked. Over to the right there was a small hill in between corn fields. On top was a man with what was a RPG-7 and he was aiming.

"Now, this guy is going to hit nearby, but he won't hit the car. When he does, I'm going to get you out and arm you. If asked, you found a cache." The spy continued.

Sam swallowed and stared at the floor, as Hansen screamed "Rocket incoming!" and Valentina tried to swerve, but the rocket's shock wave spinning the jeep, before flipping it on its side twice and making it skid even more. Next, Fisher could hear people running up to the vehicle, and out of his smashed windows he could see two black men picking up Valentina and dragging her, screaming and nearly crippled, out of view. Sam couldn't stand to even watch the shadows of the rape, so he turned to Hansen and saw he was out cold. Fisher himself was feeling the force of the hit, and fell into a cold sleep.

"Sam wake up! Wake the hell up!" The voice from before whispered with intensity to Sam.

Fisher woke up and saw a man, with his face completely covered in black, with thick blue trident goggles on his eyes. The man pulled Fisher out of the wreckage, and he saw Hansen, armed with a SC3000 and launcher, and a SC Pistol and blue goggles. Sam looked back at the Third Echelon spy and he had gotten a full set of items ready.

"You know what we have. SC3000 with three thirty round magazines and a launcher with three airfoils and two sticky shockers. You also got an ASE and a smoke grenade for your launcher. Besides that, Hansen's sack has two M67 grenades and one flash bang. Your sack has two EMP grenades and a smoke bomb." The spy explained, as he handed all the items and gave Sam the usual green goggles and a draw string sack, the same Hansen had.

"Okay, thank you for the stuff. But what happened to Valentina?" Sam asked, checking his weapons.

"Someone in a SUV came and picked them up. I tried to put a tracker on there, but Hansen informed me he had it traced already." The spy told Sam, and they all walked to the edge of the corn field, "Okay, you two keep on going and I'll inform you when it is safe. Vlad, a mercenary working in the Midwest may have some real pros coming, so be ready." He finished as Sam and Hansen went into the field, and the spy went a different route.

"So, what are we going to do? We're somewhere in Indiana, and no way we're getting to Chicago. Nearest vehicle drop zone is two days of pure walking." Hansen said, trying to create a conversation.

Fisher thought and suggested, "We they find out you killed Big Cheese, I have an idea they'll get this Vlad fellow on our asses. And if he's professional, he'll have some vehicle or something we can steal. Just gotta hope it isn't a technical."

"Damn, if it's a Toyota with a M2 on the back, we're screwed man. Nothing we can do!" Hansen exclaimed.

"Well, that may be true. But hiding a fifty caliber on a street is going to be a little hard. If anyone spots him, the cops will be called without a doubt." Sam informed him. Hansen was scared, and he wasn't thinking rationally.

The two continued to chat, about work Sam had did after quitting being a field operative, how Hansen came to work for the NSA and so on. After a few minutes they came to the edge of the corn field, and could hear loud rap music in the background.

"Vlad's men are getting close. We can rule out that they're professionals." Fisher stated, as a real pro would never give out their position.

"Sam, they're on our road. What to do?" Hansen asked.

"Simple, get into the prone position and watch them." Sam ordered, and so they did.

The two knocked down corn stalks from deeper in the field, and a bit closer to the flat road and laid the corn stalks over them. Ben and Sam got down onto their stomachs and they were completely covered, and only the barrels of the rifle and a mere glimpse of their CRW sight were visible. Sam ordered Hansen to hold fire until he had fired, due to the fact Sam had a better look.

Fisher flipped on his goggles, switched it to night vision, then turned his sight to thermal vision and waited. The car, which was a red Opel Kaddet, with four passengers, each one carrying handguns. The man in the passenger side got out, and started unzipping his pants, ready to urinate.

"Come on man, Vlad wants this weed over there pretty soon, and we gotta take out those white clowns!" The driver hollered, and was pretty annoyed.

"Yeah, come on nigga! Vlad got some serious men on his side. He's probably got some looking right now!" Someone in the back said.

"Shut up. I'll be back in a second. Gotta go look at our bitch over here." The gangster who was urinating looked into the trunk.

"Sam, it has to be Valentina. We have to rescue her." Hansen stated, quietly over the ear piece.

"No, we can't let her jeopardize our escape. If it is life or death, we can help." Sam ordered.

The gangster opened up the trunk, and said with swagger, "Hey, hows the white girl doing?" The black man put his man into the trunk and mumbled, "Yeah, give me some of that."

"Sam, we have to shoot." Hansen grumbled, aiming right at the guy's forehead.

"I don't like it either, and I'm sure Maya doesn't want it either. Only if her life is in danger."

The gangster continued to do this for a few seconds, before the driver stepped outside, "This what you're doing? Gotta take your toy for you to work?" He raised what seemed to be a .38 Special and aimed at where Valentina's head would be. "Do I have to?" The gangster asked, and seemed to be looking at Hansen rather than his partner, as he pulled back the hammer.

"Fuck it." Hansen whispered, barely audible, as his rifle punched into the air twice, and then the two men out back dropped, red holes placed neatly above their ears. Hansen moved his rifle a little to the right, and shot two four round bursts, shattering both heads and windows.

"What the hell was that?" Sam screamed, getting out of cover and running to the car.

"Listen, Maya doesn't deserve shit like that. The stories she told Noboru when we were in Europe, damn did they make me cringe." Hansen said, referring to an operation three years ago where a high ranking official in the NSA planned on making tons of money, by using a mole and a lie. Sam was accused of doing this, and Hansen and his team were sent to kill Fisher and cover up the conspiracy unknowingly.

"Fine, just make sure you tell me first." Sam told him, and they both looked in the trunk.

Maya Valentina was laying there, in nothing put bra and panties and a thick piece of duct tape over her mouth. Sam took out his dagger and cut a hole in it, then tore it off. Maya screamed at first, then calmed down.

"What the hell took you so long?" Valentina half asked, half screamed. She was infuriated.

"Well, you did try to capture us in Chicago. You know, flash banging people isn't quite a good way to make friends." Sam joked, as he helped Hansen pick her up and put her in the car, but made sure she was still tied up.

"Seriously, Sam? You let some guy put his fingers up me-" Valentina started to yell, but was cut off.

"Ben, Sam and Maya I need you three to cut it out. The little mess you guys all contributed to in the 'hood isn't going on to well. A member of the Russian Mafia, one of Vlad's biggest trading partners has been killed, and the entire city is feeling the wrath." Grim said, into their ear implants.

"What about the police? Surely they can do something. If they can't, SWAT or even the National Guard-" Hansen said, trying to calm Maya from her rape.

"Sadly, they cannot. Almost everyone in Illinois's government is in their pockets. The leader of the Mafia though, a Dimitri Ivonov, lives in a mansion a few blocks east from the neighborhood. You can't miss it." Anna told them.

"Grim, if we could, I'd like to have a word in person." Sam told her, starting the ignition as Hansen helped patch up Valentina's wounds.

"No time for it now. There is a safe house, posing simply as an antique house. Clothes and food there. There is one cache as well, key code is 9356, tactical suit and night vision goggles and a SC20k." Grim said.

Sam started the car, and started to drive down the road.

"Okay, the large red house with the black paved driveway, stop when you get all the way onto the driveway." Grim told them.

After about four minutes of driving, Sam pulled in, and made sure to stop.

"Okay, now stop, and turn off your headlights." Grim ordered, and Sam complied.

"Now pull up a few feet," Sam did so, "STOP! Turn your lights back on, and now just turn them off." Grim said again.

"What is this?" Sam asked, wondering why Grim was having him do this.

"If you don't do this, the door won't budge, and kicking it down or breaking a window won't work. Okay, pull in to the garage." Grim explained, and the one car garage, painted white, opened up, and Sam pulled in.

"Okay, now flash your headlights once more, then get out." And so we did.

"Grim, can we just get inside?" Sam asked, as he walked up the cobblestone walkway, and went to the door. It opened, and the scent of years of dust exited and hit all three of us in the face.

"When was this dinosaur last used?" Hansen said, showing his sense of humor, as I turned on lights and saw it was just a small living room, with a blue couch, wooden floors and barely any sight of the twenty-first century.

The trio walked inside, and opened up the three doors. The one next to the television (who Hansen had found out only got a few local channels) let to the kitchen and a little door in the kitchen led to small bathroom. Maya went directly in there, after finding some clothes in a room. Hansen went directly to bed, after finding the cache in a trap door in the living room. Fisher however, booted up his laptop, and got into a video chat with Grim.

"So tell me why Maya isn't getting her rifle and popping us with it." Fisher told Grim.

"My plate is full Sam. The Iran-Saudi situation is growing worse every day, and our experts say it can create a miniature Cold War in the Arab world. A couple agents got busted in North Korea and the head agent was executed. The world is going to hell, and Third Echelon just can't keep up."

"If only Lambert was here, he'd be able to do something. But Grim, this is a kiddy operation. At fifty-six years old, two more good operations and you should retire me, only doing small time spying." Sam said.

"Listen, lets just say your tactics are out of Third Echelon's playbook. And, I know you wanna see me face to face. Extract Dimitri and we can." Grim told Fisher, and turned off her web cam.

It had been a hard day for Anna Grimsdottir. Not only did Cohen get captured and executed in North Korea, but their government put it up on YouTube, and hacked it, so every video led to her decapitation. It was hard work trying to reverse it, but if anyone could do it, it was Grim.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4 Dead Men Don't Walk

Sam was in the kitchen, making himself some toast and eggs. Maya also was awake, but instead insisted on taking yet another shower. While doing so, he also looked at the contents of the cache, and found that the SC20k was still as clean as it had when a Third Echelon employee had put it in. With three thirty round magazines and four sticky shockers, memories flooded back. He had used this weapon, weather breaking into a mansion in a humid jungle, or hunting down a North Korean spy, it was his friend. Fisher turned the heat down to as low as it would get on the eggs, and pulled out his toast, and loaded a magazine into the rifle.

As Sam out the oak door, Ben asked, looking up from his movie, "Where you going Sam? Big ol' rifle with that?" Hansen asked.

"Testing out the rifle and making sure its working right." Sam lied, went outside, shut the door, and walked down the stairs and went directly into the back yard, which expanded into what seemed acres of empty farmland, except for the occasional tree.

Sam took out the SC20K and aimed at a young tree, that was only around five feet tall. The scope went directly over the center, and since there was little range he snapped the trigger. A horizontal snap popped up, and the upper foot and the half fell to the ground.

This time, at longer range Sam aimed at what was a fully grown tree, one Sam could not tell from so far away. The sight was aimed exactly at the sprout of a thick branch, and Sam pulled it up a little bit, and just a tad bit to the left. It was perfect aim, and Sam fired. CRACK! The tree branch fell and smashed into the ground.

"Yeah!" Sam whispered to himself, as he turned back around and found Ben running towards him, goggles in hand and an SC3000 over his back.

"SAM! Russian mercenaries!" Ben screamed like a child, as he tossed me the green goggles.

Sam slung the rifle over my shoulders and sprinted into the house from the backdoor and looked outside the window next to the oak door. There were two white SUVs, and the two could see two men from each, covered completely in black, with black masks over the head.

"Valentina is getting dressed, she'll join us if this gets ugly. Still recovering." Hansen stated as they started to walk up to the door.

"Grim, Russians." Sam said into his throat implant.

He waited for the response, but wasn't going to wait for the Russians to strike. The sound of a charge being planted on the door was obviously heard, so Sam did the only thing he could, breaking it down.

Sam slid over the man who was planting it, as his head was thrown back into an impossible angle and snapped. As he hit the grass and rolled, dodging fire from MP5 machine guns, and Hansen, from cover of the doorway and suppressed some of it. Sam was finally able to shoot back as well, and took one of the Russians down.

It looked like the firefight was over quickly, but both knew if four were coming, more were on the way. Sam walked up to the first SUV, whose back windows were taped shut.

"Spent a tad to much on those guns." Sam said, referring to the fact the windows could have been tinted, "I'll open the door and you rush in and capture anyone whose back here." Sam planned, and opened up the door quickly.

"Get the hell out!" Hansen screamed, as he saw one Russian mercenary, dressed up like the rest, light body armor and completely in black, besides a sliver of white underneath his sunglasses and bandana.

Ben shot the laptop from the mercenary's lap and pulled him out and tossed him onto the pavement and shot him twice in both knees.

"What the hell you doing?" Fisher screamed, picking up the Russian and punching him in between the eyes.

The mercenary babbled in Russian, and it was mostly gibberish. Sam managed to pick up that he couldn't speak English and just passed the boot camp. This kid could only be in his twenties or so, so Fisher decided to go light on him.

"Now, answer my questions as quick as you can. You get three lies. When all three lies are gone, you die."

"Get out! We got more men coming in just a few minutes. Kill me, I'm already a dead man." He screamed out, jerking to get out of Sam's iron tight grip.

"Sam, that guy is right. Our UAV confirms five vans with five people each. We're seeing military weapons." Anna said over the speaker implanted into every Splinter Cell's ear.

"Okay, Ben, go get Maya, and get inside this van," Sam pointed at the one that was unharmed by gunfire, "Get in when you do and cover different doors." Sam ordered, disarming the Russian and throwing him onto the street and changing into a mercenary outfit. When he was done, he picked the guy back up and sat him up in the passenger seat as he took the driver side.

"Now, you see that guy over there?" Sam asked, pointing at Ben who was running with Maya to the van, "He will shoot you if you don't comply. Now if one of your buddies comes over, act cool." Sam said as the two got in, reclined the seats down and crouched on top of them, and pointed their weapons towards the door.

They sat there for a while, before someone knocked on the window, and Sam rolled it down, as the captured mercenary talked.

"What happened to the agents? Any of them killed?" A mercenary dressed just like the rest, asked.

"Two of them escaped unharmed, but the girl was killed by a grenade. We cannot find the bodies. It was a large firefight." The captured man said.

"We'll recover the bodies and I'll put them in here."

"No, you'll have to take them in your van. I have got to go back to the mansion."

"Open the damn door." The officer commanded, and his hand was inching to a pistol, the captured mercenary had to open it.

Hansen acted quick and instead of making a gory mess, he grabbed the officer mercenary inside and tossed him into the back seat and shot him in the head. No one from behind saw it.

"Holy shit that was close." Valentina said in amazement, and was shocked at how effective Hansen was.

"Grim, we're moving out. Captured mercenary, and the safe house has been compromised." Sam whispered, as he prepared to kill the captured man.

"Don't worry about it, we don't have Rainbow for nothing-" Grim reported, but before she could finish a chaff grenade exploded on the outside, and the car stopped, as Russians who were hiding in the corn fields popped out and forced everyone out of the car.

"ON THE FUCKING GROUND!" They all screamed, weather that or variations.

Sam was removed from the car and forced onto the pavement and felt his pistol removed and the same for the rifle. He was tied up and he felt himself thrown onto his knees, in just a matter of seconds.

"Line then up!" He heard a Russian scream, and understood it all, executions.

Sam turned around and could see similar things happening to Hansen and Valentina, and they were forced next to him.

"Shoot!" An commanding officer screamed, and he could hear a rifle go off, and heard Valentina slump into the grass.

"Oh shit Sam." Ben whispered, but was interrupted by something in their ears.

"Sniper in position. Waiting for engagement." A voice said, calmly over their ear speakers.

"Chaos One in position. Waiting for engagement." Another voice said, just like the first.

"Chaos Two in position. Sniper, shoot the armed one, One toss a frag in between. GO!" Yet another voice ordered, and could hear a grenade, a sniper rifle, and several shells from a shotgun all go off at once.

A couple more shots went off, and then a few screams in Russian and then everything was quiet.

"Anna, we report one hostage down and about eleven hostiles eliminated. Chaos One is a KIA" Chaos Two reported, and Sam felt himself being untied and helped up.

He turned around to find what he knew instantly was a Rainbow Six operative. The two lower ranked men were dressed like all operatives, helmets with clear goggles on top, and some medium weight armor, fast, protected, and deadly. The officer of the team was dressed differently, with almost no armor, and completely in black, face mask, and balaclava, and a black baseball cap.

The officer looked at Fisher, then tapped onto his own radio implants, and said, "Tactical Six Team Two has recovered the package. Chaos One is KIA." The officer, Chaos Two, reported to someone else, most likely the other team.

The response was broadcasted to everyone, even Sam and Ben, "Team One is meeting heavy resistance! Mayhem One is severely wounded! I need support damn it!" The officer from the other team, who was likely covering the safe house, reported in.

"Okay, everyone inside the van. You guys, my name is Captain Patterson, and the sniper is Sergeant Woods!" The officer screamed out as they piled into the vehicle, "Woods! Get your ass over to Moore and provide fire!" Patterson screamed, as he took the wheel and started burning rubber towards the house.

"So, who will extract the bodies?" Hansen asked, who again was in the backseat and was ready to jump out and shoot some Russians.

"Another Six team will back us up, get out!" Patterson screamed, as everyone saw a grenade roll towards the van, as they neared the rural safe house.

It exploded and knocked everyone out. Sam rolled away from the exploding car, and found everything was in complete hell. An elite squad of Rainbow Six operatives and Ben were taking cover behind a mercenary van, as fire from AK-47s and a set up machine gun were pumping what seemed millions of rounds a second. The snipers were not seen and were not hitting targets like they should have been.

Sam, not being seen, whipped out his SC20k and aimed the sight at the machine gunner and shot, and saw it pierce the brick and blood came out of the window. And just like that the Six team started to suppress the Russians, with blasting M4 Carbines. The team then ran inside, and after what seemed a few seconds, the entire safe house was clear.

The entire group met back in the streets, and they were certain that the entire area was clear of mercenaries.

"I've called in a chopper! Local police special operations has hit the rest. Vlad's main infantry unit has been wiped out." Captain Patterson said, as they eagerly awaited a rescue helicopter.

"So, how do you know about Vlad and our operation?" Ben asked, lightly cleaning his rifle.

"Our snipers will be providing support on the nearby area. A Rainbow Six and FBI joint team will then raid the house. Our goal will be to capture or kill Vlad, you need to get some information from his house and loosen up security. I'm sure this Grim person can help you more." Patterson answered, as the helicopter came near.

"Rainbow Chaos Team, this is Black Hawk Delta, prepare for a ride back to Chicago. National Guard is shooting down anything that leaves the ground." The chopper pilot radioed them, and dropped down a black rope, and we climbed up.

So as they climbed abroad, Ben asked a question everyone was wanting to know, "Why would messing with a little gang attract the attention of a trusted mercenary company?"

"We don't have any idea yet. Deployed units that have helped us in Afghanistan have turned and have taken hold of a few towns. The Army isn't nearly as prepared and can't get troops in and out easily. Rumors got it next Six is deploying us in with some Ghosts." Patterson answered, referring to the Army's Ghost Recon who could get any job done whether it require hot combat in Iraq all the way to stealth in the Himalayas.

"Let's just focus on this mission first. Dead men don't walk." Patterson's sniper said.


End file.
